Two men held over Canada rail terror plot

Ottawa | Canadian police arrested two foreign nationals in connection with a plan to derail a passenger train, in the nation’s first suspected terror plot involving al-Qaeda.

Police arrested
Chiheb Esseghaier
, 30, of Montreal and
Raed Jaser
, 35, of Toronto, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers said on Monday. The accused were taking advice from ­al-Qaeda sources in Iran, the RCMP said. The target was a VIA Rail passenger train in the Toronto area.

“Canada worked very closely with international partners to combat terrorism" in the investigation, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said in Ottawa. “Our government will continue to be vigilant." The FBI also helped with the probe.

The two men were scheduled to appear in a Toronto court on charges including conspiring to carry out an attack, the RCMP said. Canada’s government has said a terrorist attack in the country by al-Qaeda, or people inspired by them, is a possibility. Its spy agency has reported threats from al-Qaeda because of Canada’s ties to the US and a past combat mission in Afghanistan.

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Police declined to comment on what country the two men are from, and added there is no indication the support from Iran was state-sanctioned. Esseghaier is a native of Tunisia, The Globe and Mail reported.

RCMP Superintendent Doug Best said this appears to be the first known terror plot in Canada supported by al-Qaeda. “These arrests were the result of extensive cross-border cooperation, which is the hallmark of our relationship," US Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson said.

Canada’s national police said the public was not in danger, and the planned attack wasn’t imminent. They declined to say what route the accused were targeting at Montreal-based VIA Rail, which operates passenger trains across Canada.The Globe and Mail reported the targeted route was Toronto to New York.

Police acted on a tip from the Muslim community, said Hussein Hamdani, a partner with Simpson Wigle Law LLP in Hamilton, Ontario, and a community leader invited to attend the press conference.

“They told us if it was not for the involvement of the Muslim community, they would not have been able to make an arrest," Mr Hamdani said. “This was a way of reconnecting and strengthening that partnership."